This is a repost from last month’s thread, because I posted at the end of the month and it had low exposure.
I once read a transhumanism short story by Isaac Asimov but have forgot the title and short story collection it was in, I’m trying to find this story again. The plot summary goes as such: A retired businessman is reminiscing about the frontier days of cognitive enhancement where ‘chipped’ professionals were a high value rarity and his firm was so lucky to have the opportunity to interview two at the same time and he had to choose which one to hire. A key limiter to the ‘chipping’ was that those professionals were ten times as smart for one tenth the productive lifespan, meaning early onset of senility and retirement. The retired businessman laments that the current generation of ‘chipping’ is so dialed down and legislated that they are nothing special.
If this rings a bell and you can give me a title to this short story, you will have my eternal gratitude.
“Man as the Ultimate Gadget”
(Asimov’s original title: The Smile of the Chipper)
Years ago, at the outset of the 21st century, junior executive Johnson’s career depended on choosing between two “chippers”—those men with implanted microchips that gave them power over others’ emotions.
ASIMOV STORY [A.375]
PUBLICATION RECORD:
----- First publication: Business Week’s 1988 Guide to Giving (October 21, 1988)
Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (April 1989)
Gold (1995)
Memory got corrupted, the chips were not cognitive enhancements but let them manipulate emotions.
This is a repost from last month’s thread, because I posted at the end of the month and it had low exposure.
I once read a transhumanism short story by Isaac Asimov but have forgot the title and short story collection it was in, I’m trying to find this story again. The plot summary goes as such: A retired businessman is reminiscing about the frontier days of cognitive enhancement where ‘chipped’ professionals were a high value rarity and his firm was so lucky to have the opportunity to interview two at the same time and he had to choose which one to hire. A key limiter to the ‘chipping’ was that those professionals were ten times as smart for one tenth the productive lifespan, meaning early onset of senility and retirement. The retired businessman laments that the current generation of ‘chipping’ is so dialed down and legislated that they are nothing special.
If this rings a bell and you can give me a title to this short story, you will have my eternal gratitude.
Are you sure it was by Asimov?
Very certain, Hardcopy short story collection from a public library, picked up after discovering the Foundation series.
http://www.storypilot.com/asimov1.html
This list of Asimov’s short stories may help. Also, see if you can dredge up any details about the title of the anthology, other stories in it, etc.
“Man as the Ultimate Gadget” (Asimov’s original title: The Smile of the Chipper) Years ago, at the outset of the 21st century, junior executive Johnson’s career depended on choosing between two “chippers”—those men with implanted microchips that gave them power over others’ emotions. ASIMOV STORY [A.375] PUBLICATION RECORD: ----- First publication: Business Week’s 1988 Guide to Giving (October 21, 1988) Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (April 1989) Gold (1995)
Memory got corrupted, the chips were not cognitive enhancements but let them manipulate emotions.